Mountain View, Calif.– Prometheus Real Estate Group Inc. has cleared a site in downtown Mountain View for a new 203-unit apartment complex. The new building will be named Madera (Spanish for wood, timber, lumber), as an homage to Minton’s Lumber and Supply, the former occupant of the site.

The development will be transit-oriented and pedestrian-friendly, says to the developer. The Madera site is situated next to the Downtown Transit Station, featuring Caltrain, VTA (Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority) and bus access. As a result, the property will be able to offer downtown Mountain View residents a place to live without the need for an automobile, something of an unusual offer in the Golden State.

Madera will include individual unit porches and stoops “to enhance the pedestrian/neighborhood experience,” according to Prometheus, along with 203 bicycle parking stalls to promote bike use. For those residents using vehicular transport, the property will also feature charge stations for electric vehicles and a car-sharing service.

Though not formally going for sustainable certification, the property will feature a number of green design elements, such as cool-roof technology, AC with non-HCFC refrigerants, rainwater reclamation for landscape irrigation, and drought-tolerant landscaping. During construction, which is slated to begin in early 2013, the developer will use recycled-content carpeting, padding, framing and other materials, and divert half of construction and demolition waste to recycling.

Prometheus began its development activities in Mountain View, a San Francisco Bay-area town, in the late 1980s, with the Park Place Apartments and Mountain View City Center. These developments, it says, along with Mountain View’s City Hall and Performing Arts Center, have served as catalysts for the revitalization of the downtown. The company currently owns a portfolio of more than 18,000 apartments in the San Francisco Bay area, Seattle, Portland, Ore. and Los Angeles.